Discovery

WHAT : RAW: Natural Born Artists hosts yet another of its mixers that have grown into some of Orlando's most diverse buffets of local talent — at least on a weekday. Grab a drink and pick your favorites at this showcase of up-and-comers in a variety of disciplines, from makeup to music. See art by the likes of photographer Scott Leonard and painter Justin Holder, along with live sets from rockers Blaine the Mono and Fiery Sushi. WHEN : 8 p.m.-midnight Thursday, Feb. 7 WHERE : The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive, Orlando COST : $10 advance, $15 at the door (21 or older)

In the latest televised look back at Lake County's grisly vampire murder case, convicted killer Rod Ferrell talked matter-of-factly about bludgeoning a Eustis couple and the sordid events leading up to the crime. "I was in a maelstrom of my own madness," Ferrell, who is serving a life sentence for the 1996 killings of Richard and Naomi Wendorf, said in the program that aired Thursday night as part of Investigation Discovery's "Handsome Devils" series. He spoke of drinking blood and attracting disaffected young people to embrace his vampire lifestyle.

Its nose pointed toward a nearly full moom, space shuttle Discovery rolls out from the Vehicle Assembly Building on Monday night on its 61/2-hour trip to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center. Discovery is scheduled to blast off for the last time on Nov. 1 on a mission to bring equipment to the International Space Station. Discovery, the 3rd shuttle in the fleet, will be flying the 133rd mission in the program due to end next year. (Photo by Red Huber of the Orlando Sentinel.)

Author Frank Stanfield, a former Orlando Sentinel reporter who covered the trial of vampire-cult killer Rod Ferrell, isn't surprised the 1996 killings continue to spark interest. "People are still talking about it," said Stanfield, who was interviewed for the latest take on the sensational case for Investigation Discovery's "Handsome Devils" series. The program, "Blood Lust," premieres at 9 p.m. today, delving once again into the Eustis slayings of Richard and Naomi Wendorf. Ferrell pleaded guilty to beating the Wendorfs to death with a crowbar and is serving life in prison.

Heavy rains over Kennedy Space Center Thursday forced NASA managers to delay the launch of space shuttle Discovery another day. The new launch time will be Friday at 3:04 p.m. NASA's Mission Management Team made the decision after a 5:30 a.m. meeting looking at the weather and deciding there would not be a break in the rain and cloud cover that would allow them to launch Discovery on its final mission to the International Space Station....

WASHINGTON — A scrubbed space launch in South America could delay the upcoming Feb. 24 takeoff of space shuttle Discovery, although NASA officials have not made a final determination. A European spacecraft was supposed to launch Tuesday from French Guiana but engineers canceled the attempt after possible fuel problems. The European Space Agency aims to try again Wednesday and a successful launch would push Discovery back a day to Feb. 25 to avoid traffic at the International Space Station.

NASA has delayed space shuttle Discovery's launch by at least one day to give engineers who are troubleshooting two leaks in the orbiter's right-side orbital maneuvering system rocket pod a chance to fix problem. Discovery's countdown to launch an 11-day resupply mission to the International Space Station was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. today. Liftoff for Discovery's 39th and final mission was supposed to take place on Monday at 4:40 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center. Now, it won't happen before Election Day at the earliest.

NASA officials scrubbed Discovery's two landing attempts Monday at Kennedy Space Center because of poor weather. Weather conditions at Cape Canaveral have been an issue all morning. Discovery was waved off its first landing attempt at 8:48 a.m. and officials said they hoped weather would clear for the second attempt at 10:23 a.m. However, low visibility, cloud cover and off-shore rain showers prevented Discovery's crew from coming home. The crew will try again tomorrow with landing opportunities at both Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base in California.

NASA is reporting today that small cracks were found on several support beams in the mid-section of Discovery's external fuel tank. "The newly detected cracks currently are under evaluation and there has been no decisions on what affect, if any, these cracks will make on future plans," NASA said in a statement. Shuttle managers will meet this afternoon to decide whether modifications are needed on some of the supports. This is a breaking news story. Check back later for updates.

CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA will resume the countdown to launch space shuttle Discovery at 3:29 p.m. Thursday – presuming the weather cooperates. A Twitter message from NASA's Mission Management Team meeting late Thursday afternoon said that "managers will proceed with Discovery's launch attempt tomorrow and will meet again at 5:30 a.m. to evaluate the weather. " The decision followed an all-night effort by engineers to review data from Discovery's engine controllers -- computers that monitor the engines – to determine why the voltage in one of the backup computers dropped slightly on Tuesday.

The Winter Garden furniture-store owner on death row for the Christmas Eve 1975 murders of his wife and three others is the subject of a new television documentary airing this week, which aims to make the case he never received a fair trial. The documentary, titled "A Question of Innocence," is about Tommy Zeigler, now 68, who has been unsuccessfully battling his murder conviction for almost four decades. Zeigler has exhausted his appeals and is now considered "death-ready. " Jose Baez, Casey Anthony's former lawyer, reviewed the evidence for Zeigler's defense and appears briefly in the film.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Like many athletic directors, the University of Florida's Jeremy Foley has made some great hires (see Urban Meyer) and some questionable hires (see Will Muschamp), but I'm here to tell you today that he stands alone as the man who made the greatest college coaching hire of this generation. Billy Donovan. Billy Legend. Billy Basketball. Considering where Donovan was 18 years ago as a 30-year-old coach with no track record and where he is now - on the precipice of a third national championship - it's hard to imagine a greater hire in this generation (last 30 years)

Detectives and deputies are treating Friday's discovery of a human skull near Ocoee with all the care of a homicide investigation until medical examiners determine what happened. The Orange County Sheriff's Office is bringing out cadaver dogs, sending a helicopter into the area for an aerial search and will dispatch deputies on the ground to comb every inch of the wooded area in the 8300 block of Hackney-Prairie Road where the human remains were found. Road crews spotted the cranium about 11:15 a.m. Friday along the north side of the rural road, which will remain closed into Saturday afternoon, said Capt.

Working to cure a disease that plagues more than one in 10 American adults, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and those at pharmaceutical company Pfizer will begin collaborating to find a new way to combat obesity-related diabetes. The three-year agreement, which the parties announced Tuesday, combines Sanford-Burnham's expertise in disease biology and muscle metabolism with Pfizer's expertise in drug discovery, said Deborah Robison, spokeswoman for the research institute in Lake Nona.

The special prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case has fired her information technology director, who last month testified that he found evidence on Trayvon Martin's cell phone that Zimmerman's lawyers say the state never turned over, according to a Jacksonville.com report. According to the report, Ben Kruidbos received a scathing letter from State Attorney Angela Corey's office Friday morning, calling him untrustworthy and adding he "can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.

CAPE CANAVERAL — When space shuttle Discovery thunders off the launch pad Wednesday afternoon, it will be a cleaner, tougher and vastly improved spaceship compared with the one that rolled off an assembly line in California in October 1983. For its upcoming mission to the International Space Station, Discovery will sport 33 new and improved heat-protection tiles over critical areas of the ship and new ceramic bolt covers that won't come undone in flight. It's also carrying new instruments installed on its belly to measure the heat buildup on the area when the orbiter makes its fiery dive back home.

It happened again. Another Orlando-area megachurch pastor is stepping down after admitting to having an affair. Discovery Church Pastor David Loveless' resignation last weekend makes him the third in six months to step down after stepping over the line of adultery — following Summit Church's Isaac Hunter and The Gathering Place's Sam Hinn. It has nothing to do with anything in the water and all to do with the pressures, adorations and temptations that come from being a high-profile pastor in a large church, say experts and fellow pastors.

Lead Pastor David Loveless has resigned from Discovery Church after admitting to having an affair. The resignation was announced to the congregation of the Orlando megachurch on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, Orlando-area pastors reacted with shock and sadness. "I have an overwhelming feeling of sadness," said David Swanson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. "It's sad for that church, sad for David and his family, and sad for what it means to the larger Christian church.